Adventures in the Classroom, Part II: Fun with Vocabulary

Every week on Tuesdays, I assign my students 10 vocabulary words. These words are from a well-known list in the ESL (English as a Second Language) world. We go over pronunciation of the words and then the students are responsible for defining the word, writing the part of speech, listing other forms of the word, etc. in hopes that they will truly retain the word. Their vocabulary is an area that needs great improvement, particularly learning academic words that they will encounter throughout the remainder of their time in seminary. The only part of the exercise that I grade for errors is the 10 original sentences they must write using the assigned words. Grading 720 sentences a week is no small task!

The students eagerly flip through their notebooks as soon as they get them back. Using actual sentences from their notebooks, I target and address areas that I see need some work. It might be usage of the actual vocabulary words, commonly misspelled words, or writing tips in general. An area that I am especially targeting this semester is using the correct form of the word. (“He emphasized the importance of industry”, not “He emphasized the important of industry.”)

As you can imagine, I get some pretty interesting sentences and some lively discussions in class about them. My favorite story of the week involves the word “magnetic.” Many of the students used this word incorrectly in their exercise. At the board I had to tell them that “magnetic” does indeed involve two objects that are attracted to one another. However, care must be taken when the two objects are humans! Somehow

“A husband should be magnetized to his wife.”

just doesn’t quite work!

It amused me that though many students wrote this very sentence, the class as a whole instantly burst into laughter when I brought the matter up! They realized how funny it sounded out loud, but didn’t seem to think it was so funny on paper.

We have a lot of fun! It’s a joy to help the students in their struggle to understand the English language better.

Lisa